


Rising Humanity

by DapperJake



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Zombiestuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:04:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3682584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DapperJake/pseuds/DapperJake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's two years post apocalypse and Karkat is still running from place to place, trying to find his friends he knows lives in a city up north, New York City. He's made it to NYC, but he still needs to find his friends, if they're even still alive...</p>
<p>On the way he meets another boy, Cronus, he's not sure what to think of him yet, but he trusts him enough to let him hide out with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stealing Backpacks

You knew you couldn't run fast enough, you knew. So when you tripped, I didn't come to a surprise to you. You scrambled to the nearest building among the city street you were on, and slammed the door behind you and barricaded it with a recliner chair and you just prayed it would indoor anyone or thing that will try to knock down your temporary safe haven. You gasp for breath, press your back to the ground, and count to ten.

_...one, two, three_

You hear the bang of a gun and quiet your mumbling.

_...four, five, six_

Another bang, close this time.

_...seven eight, nine_

You hear a thud against your door and almost fall down when you stand up so quickly. There's frantic breathing on the other side of the blocked door then you can hear quiet speaking.

"Kid, kid, I know your in there. I saw you. 'Got rid of most them Risers for us. Let me in, there's still a few. Come on..." The voice sounds like another boy, but older you think.

"I- I'm not a kid. What do you want? And we're you following me?! I don't need you, go away. Find your own hide out!" You raise your voice, just under a yell.

"Oh, come on, come on! Please, we can help each other. We can be friends!" He's speaking desperately but still keeping his voice a whisper. "Best friends, even. You know you need a friend in these kind of times. Come on! Open up! I ain't gonna hurt you, if that's what you thinkin'. Listen, I got a can of food, I'll give you the whole thing! Hurry, there's Risers still out here."

You tell yourself, the promise of food is the only reason why you'll do this one nice thing.

You barely got the door opening when he pushes his way in and slams the door shut. He falls on the ground and breaths slowly, his eyes tightly closed.

You observe him, now. He's got every inch of his skin covered with cloths, except his face. He's got a red backpack, thrown next to him, covered in a few darkened stains you hope is only dry red paint. You grab his bag without hesitation, it's your backpack now. You let him in your hide out, it's only fair he gives you his stuff. You remember the promised food, and start looking for that immediately. Your still looking for the canned food when he speaks up.

"The food ain't in the bag, man." He breaths out.

"Where is it, you said I get the whole can of food if I let you in. I let you in, now where is it?" You command.

He reaches into his coat pocket and throws a can of peaches at you. You catch them then shove it into the front pouch of your new backpack. The other boy looks at you funny and tries to reach for the bag.

"Oh, no." You drawl out, "This is mine now. So hands off."

He glares then sighs. "Okay fine. You can keep it. But that means we're going to be friends now. And I would keep that food in your pockets, 'cause someone'll come around and steal that bag, then, you ain't got any food. That's what happened to me, anyway. So I learned to keep food in my pockets. Less likely to get taken, kid." The boy grumbles, "Name's Cronus. You?"

"Karkat." You say hesitantly.

"Okay, Karkat, is this your hide out?" Cronus says.

"Well, maybe. I have to check for any Risers and look at some wounds, so I'll probably be here for a few days." That's mostly true. You have that bite on your leg that you've had for nearly a year now, you have the habit of obsessing over it and trying to treat it up because really, no one gets bit by a Riser and stays human. You're gonna have to keep that secret away from Cronus, you don't know if he'll off you or not if he knows you got bit. But you do also have to check this place out, make sure it isn't already someone else's hide out, or worse, has Risers creeping around here. There hasn't been any noise or anything since you scrambled in here, but you can never be sure.

"Sure, got it. I'll check this place out while you do your thing. There's some med supplies in the bag, if you need it." Cronus stands and grab something else from another pocket, but you can't see it, and walks slowly into another room. He stops and turns his head to you before he walks in, though.

"Don't go runnin' kid. We're in this together now. Got it?"

You nod, looking away, and he walks into the next room.


	2. Letters to Your Boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost made myself cry writing this.
> 
> Tw: past suicidal thoughts

In the backpack, you found a few large bandages and so you put two of them over the old bite mark on your leg, knowing it would hide it better. Now, you taking a closer look at the everything else in the bag. A few switch blades, a small water filter, and a small rag. There's also some less important stuff in there, but probably would be nice just to keep around, like an old looking mermaid coloring book with a crayon box, some of the crayons are missing or broken, two books, and a dark brown hat.You put the hat on, no need to waist a perfectly good hat, right?

The two books are Hard Times and Oliver Twist, both by Charles Dickens. You might read those later, they both look kinda long and can probably pass time. You wonder how many times this Cronus guy might've read these.

You open the coloring book you see on the inside cover it has one of those things that say 'This book belongs to' and also has a date thing. You read, This book belongs to **_Feferi Pixies, 2012_**. That was three years ago, and by the hand writing you can tell this kid was probably around five so maybe they're eight now. If they're even still alive. You can see it now, a little eight year old being mauled by a couple Risers... What a horrible thought, why did you think of that? God, your sick, you kinda want to punch yourself for that. You flip through the pages and see that the first few drawing was from this kid. Then you see where Cronus probably started coloring in it. The coloring was much neater and actually stayed inside the lines.

What catches your attention, is the inside back cover. There seems to be a letter of sorts written in small writing on the blank space that was there, signed by Cronus.

_Dearest Kankri Vantas,_

_If your reading this, I'm probably lost or dead some where cause I always keep my bag with me, after some dude stole my last one anyway. You know, it's weird writing about yourself as if you were dead, which I probably will be soon. But I promised you that I wouldn't try killing myself anymore, so you can know if you ever found my dead body some where or if you see some Zombiefied me by now, I kept my promise. And don't you cry either, I want you to stay happy. You deserve that._

_Find ways to keep yourself happy and busy, that's what you did for me and that worked. I also found a few of those book you wanted to read, and I'm leaving a few blank pages in here and a box of crayons for you. Well, if you find my bag too and this coloring book isn't too torn up by the time you find this. I hope you do. Try to look for it if you don't. It's a red bag, your favorite color. I wrote our names on the front pouch._

_If I am alive right now, know that I'm looking for you, and I might be close by where you found this! Your probably still in NYC cause I know you never left the city and probably still won't. I'm traveling there to look for you, so if you plan on leaving, don't. I wish I didn't go on that trip to Virginia. You were so sad that day, three years ago I think it was, I promised I'd come back and I keep my promises, you got that? I'm really close to NYC now, I think, so I hope you won't have to wait for me any longer. I love you, I love you so so much. Okay?_

_I'm trying to write my smallest, I don't have that much more room on this now. I'll find a notebook later, I have so much more to tell you, so I'll write more if I find a note book or something. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Sorry, only had a bit more space left, decided that would be the best way to fill some of it up_

_Love, Cronus Ampora_

You skim over that one more time and try not to cry, why did you read that? You put it safely back in the bag and tell yourself to give that, the books, and the crayons back to Cronus. You'll find another bag for him. You don't really know who this Cronus guy is, or this Kankri person is, but your not that mean. They obviously care about each other a lot.

You sling that bag over your back and go explore the house, your pretty sure it's a house, and look for Cronus.

The only other door leads to a kitchen, you look around but you think Cronus must've taken any food that was there and head to the tight stair case, from there, a hallway upstairs. The first door is a bathroom, you leave that alone for now. The next door, it's a bedroom. Looks like a teen's room, your fifteen so there might be some cloths or something.

You look under the bed first, there's nothing really, only a bunch of papers. Next to the bed is a black and green backpack. You take the few papers that were in there and put the switch blades, water filter, rag, and medical supplies in that bag. You keep the rest of Cronus' stuff in the red bag, you'll give that back to him. In the closet, you just about shout from your find. The closet has some cloths and shoes. Just what you needed, you're cloths now we're starting to get small. These cloths are a bit bigger, but that's fine for you.

You shut the door and change into a black turtleneck and baggy jeans, you manage to find I belt to keep the pants up. You found good pair of sneakers and put those on then you grab another pair of jeans and a t-shirt to have and put that in your bag.

You check the bookshelf and find a blank note book for Cronus, some pencils, and a mostly empty drawing book for yourself. You've always liked drawing and that'll probably help you stay sane.

The last room, Cronus is in there and almost jumps when he hears you walk in. This room is the parents' room and you can can tell that Cronus changed his cloths too, though they are almost too big for him. You think he might be around eighteen.

You're the first one to speak. "Hey, here's your bag back. I read... The coloring book and yeah. Thought you might want that stuff, and I found you a notebook. For um, yeah. Sorry for snooping around I guess. That stuff is none of my business..."

He looks down and sighs then take the backpack and looks through it to see what you left in there. "Thanks, man. Really. I was gonna ask for that later, but yeah. Thanks. And thanks for the notebook. Means a lot to me. Just don't through my stuff again."

"Got it."

Cronus puts the bag over one shoulder looks around the room.

"So this place ain't got no Risers, don't know about the other houses around here. A while ago, when I was runnin' I saw some shops down the road..." He trails off at the end, almost asking a question.

"Okay, okay. How about I check the rest of the houses on this street, you go down and raid those shops, and we'll meet back at this house when we get done. Find another bag if you can to hold more stuff. Good plan?" You think it is and you two might stay at this house for a bit. You get weak easily and have to stay at one place for a little while before you can muster up and move on. It's also a chance for you to look for any signs of your friends.

"Yeah. You need a gun?" He asks

"Uh, no. I don't know how to use one. But I'll be fine. I've gotten great with this sickle," You pat your waist, were you kept your sickle connected to your belt instead of just holding it for the past three years.

"Okay. You've earned my trust. I'll teach you to use a gun when I come back though."

"Sure thing."

You don't know how to feel, but your happy that you got his trust. You both leave the house and head separate ways for now to explore.


	3. Getting in the house

It feels peaceful right now. Your not sure if that's going to last long though if you see any Risers but for now you walk on. The houses in the city are are pretty much almost touching so it's no longer then a minute to the next house. You walk up to the door to try and open it, but to no surprise, it's locked. You look around for any open open windows, and thankfully there us one. But it seems to be on the second floor...

You see a small shed and a tree next to it, close to the open window. If you can get on top of that shed, you can easily reach one of branches on the tree then reach your way then jump to the window.

Before that though, you check what's in that shed. You open the door carefully, hoping there won't be any Risers inside. You peak inside. Good, no Risers in sight. Inside, you find some assorted vegetable seeds, that should be VERY useful. You also see a sharp, metal ended rake looking thing. You forget the actual name of the tool, but that doesn't matter. Maybe if you can bend the ends of the claw part, it can be sticking out more and with that long handle, you can use this to put a bit more distance when attacking. More distance than your sickle could, that would be much more safer. You decide to leave for now though, you'll have to find something that can bend metal.

You easily climb on top of the shed then start carefully walking to the tree branches. You pull on a few of them, testing their strength then pull yourself up the sturdiest branch. From there you pull your way along the branch, freaking out slightly once your feet left the shed rooftop, and get close enough to the window to reach an arm out to the window's edge. 

You almost fall you when you let the other hand let go of the tree branch but quickly bring grab the window's ridge. Now you are able to pull yourself up, use your feet to feet punching yourself, and now you have both your forearms in the room. With that, it's now much easier to pull all the way through and land on the floor with a thud and a bang to your head. 

Once you look around, you see that this is a twin toddlers' bedroom. You try not to dwell on that thought for too long. You suddenly remember, don't most little kids rooms have those walkie-talkie like things? You look around and, ah! There it is. All you need to do now is find the other piece. You take one last glance around this room, alas it's only a little child's room and nothing else can be useful and now you have to leave. You suddenly see a lot of blood on one of the baby cribs and there's a tight clench to your stomach. Yeah, definitely the time to leave.

Just across that room is the open door to the parents' room. The whole room looks completely trashed but hidden under a pile of old sheets is the other walkie talkie thing. There's a loud static sound once the two pieces are close together so you take the batteries of one of them out to stop the sound and put all the things in your bag. Hopefully there could be some more working batteries down stairs somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short. I know, but I just stated the first two paragraphs in the next chapter. It's going to be in Cronus' pov. Which is going to be 'worded' kinda differently beacuse so far I'm writing almost as if I'm THINKING like Karkat. So the next chapter will be written as though I'm THINKING like Cronus. Getting inside their heads, almost.
> 
> That will be up today, if not tomorrow.
> 
> OH BY THE WAY  
> Risers=Zombies. I tried to come up with my own lil nickname for them instead of Walkers or something. I hope this name hasn't been used already....


	4. Day dreams

_Bang_

Okay. You do a quick check, looking around the store room. You pat your arms, stomach, and legs over your jacket to make sure there are no bites or scratches. Good, good, there's none. You put your gun back in the large zipper pocket of your pants. You really like these new cloths. A bit big, but the pants and jacket pockets have zippers. It seems kinda old style but right now in the world, that doesn't matter. It's just good that you can keep your things more safe. 

Now that you've cleared the small food shop of any threats, you take a look around to find any food. On the shelves are a lot of canned food actually, this place must've been able to stay hidden from any other people over these years. You feel so grateful that you ended up in the part of the city that wasn't raided much. You start to think though, is there a reason why people didn't come here? Or didn't seem to make it out of this part of the city? 

You shake it off. Don't think like that, Cronus. Look for food. Your here to get search for supplies, not think so fearfully. 

You sigh, then start shoving as many cans of food in your bag. You try to take more of the things that you know will taste a bit better and the ones that you've heard that can last in a can for about two years, five years at most that you know, so you can get the best out of this. You look around a bit more on the shelves then finally find bottled water. There's a lot of it, coming in packs of twelve. You manage to fit one in your backpack and just carry another pack by hand.

You're starting to think. Maybe you and Karkat should set up something here, not to stay here for a long time, but to have something to come back to once you find Kankri. And whoever Karkat is looking for. He hasn't really told you something but you sure he must be looking for someone. 

You can't help but let your mind think about this and start thinking up some things that probably won't happen. 

What if you and Karkat start gathering a lot more people? You can start some sort of group. You can find more and more people, help them, start a society, and fight back Risers. Maybe find a cure for it too, it's not like humanity is starting from the very start like cavemen or something. People are strong. We can grow, repopulate more, start back the agriculture, and make the world thrive again. It will be so amazing. It's like humanity has a chance for a new start, a new beginning, to try life over again and have a better world...

These thoughts now start turning into Kankri. You and him could reunite. He makes you so happy, he keeps you distracted, and motivated. You would kiss him and listen to him because you know that's what he needs from you, to remind him that he's so worth it... 

Okay, okay. Enough. You have to stay on track, you tell yourself. Get supplies. Meet back up with Karkat. You leave the building and look up at the sky, the sun is starting to go down. You contemplate going to another building but decide against it. You haven't really mapped this place out much yet so you don't think you could make it back to the meet up place if it's dark. 

You walk out back on the road, staying a close enough distance away from any dark places that a Riser might be hiding at, and walk back down the way to the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so SORRY that I didn't update last night. I'm dumb but I made my self start working on this chapter once I got home so now. READ


	5. Back at the House

You notice it's getting dark so you hurry yourself back down the road and to the house. Once there, you open the door and decide to lock it in case it's not just you and Cronus here that can open doors.

"Hey, Cronus, you here yet?"You shout out.

There's three moments of silence so it seems Cronus didn't get here yet. Oh well. You hope he's alright.

You go to the kitchen where there's a table that you can set your things out. You take out three small flashlights, a case of, what you hope, working batteries that can fit the flashlights, the two walkie-talkie things, and a watch that thankfully still works.

You also found a house that had all sorts of guns and bullets, so you grabbed two pistols, because that's the only type of gun that you know of, and bullets. You found a lot of different types of bullets so you grabbed as many different kinds you could. You know nothing about guns, but Cronus said he was going to teach you. Suddenly there's two quiet knocks at the door.

"You in there, Karkat?"

You know it's Cronus so you walk over to unlock the door and then Cronus opens the door himself and walks right in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short and I haven't updated in a while. 
> 
> I'm consulting with my friends about the story and stuff and I've planned what's going to happen all the way up to chapter eight.


	6. Kankri's Note

I met Dave when he broke into my apartment room and almost killed me, around two years ago. Dave has been here for a long while now in this apartment building and is willing enough to share his food with me, more so now since a women by the name of Condense and her large gang of survivors took over the apartment building. 

Condense came here almost a year ago and I think she's trying to start civilization up again. She's brought about three dozen people with her, so this must mean something. She has Dave and I apart of her civilization now and I this is okay, for now. I know she might immigrate again soon but I don't want to leave this place. I have to stay here! 

I've now met Sollux and Nepeta, they're younger than me but they're way more smarter and useful than I could ever be. 

(Pg. 56)

\---

Dave, Sollux, Nepeta, and I are going to hide away at the top floor while Condense and the rest leave. Sollux told us that Condense us planning something, something not good. So now we're going to stay here, but we can't get caught because Condense won't let anyone leave the group. I don't know anything else about it.

(Pg. 59)

\---

Cronus, if you found this notebook, I'm in the second to last floor in the very last room to the right. I love you. I hope your looking for me.

(Pg. 61)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's short, I just needed to do SOMETHING


	7. No sleep

It's night now, maybe nine p.m. Cronus is sleeping in the parent's room while you took the other bedroom. He might be asleep by now, he told you he was really tired so he was going straight to sleep. You, on the other hand, are not sleeping. Can't sleep. Won't sleep. You hope this won't be another one of those weeks where you barely sleep. That would be inconvenient, especially when Cronus is with you now. Maybe if you try to pretend to sleep, you can actually black out for a while.

...

...

...

Yeah, this isn't working.

You get up from the bed and walk over to the full body mirror on the closet door and study your eyes. It's dark, but there's enough light from the moon outside to see. You see dark brown in your eyes, dark enough to be black. You also notice the half circles under your eyes, it kinda looks like two black eyes that will never quite healed. Never quite healed... That's a good analogy for yourself. 

You lean down and pick up the pile of books and papers left by the kid who used to live here, and bring them over to the bed so you can look through them. You have nothing better to do. 

The first few papers are just school worksheets and stuff, nothing really interesting. One of the books is about fairies and you're not really into that kinda thing so you don't even bother to look through it. You then see a sketch book, maybe this kid is (was?) good at drawing. 

The first few drawings are of the same person. This Aradia chick, if the captions are anything to go by. 

After a few minutes you finish skimming the book and then shove everything off the bed. You think you're tired enough now to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't updated in a while. Wow I suck. 
> 
> Btw, if anyone is willing to make fan art or something go ahead and do it. Put a link or something in the comments if you posted it somewhere. I'm thinking of putting up some art in the chapters, you know?


	8. Nightmares

"But we can't just DO that. We can't!" Karkat yells, well, as quietly as he can yell anyways, with Gamzee in the next room. 

"Listen, I know that you don't want to-- I know that you two are like best friends or whatever the fuck, but we _need_  to do this. He's infected. I'm-- I'm really sorry, okay?" Sollux grabs Karkat's hands as he tries to leave.

"Just... Let me do this, okay? It will be safer for everyone." 

Karkat looks down at his ratty tennis shoes and nods.

"Okay, go help Nepeta we can go." 

\---

"Sollux, Nep? Whe-- where are you?"

The dust and destruction had seemed to settle, but Karkat still felt that something was wrong. Something was missing. 

A huge group of Raiders found their shack out in the woods, and it looks like they took EVERYTHING. Karkat still had his satchel in his hand, so at least some things were safe. 

But... Where are his friends?

\---

You wake up with a startled yelp. God, you hate remembering the past.


	9. Cronus is Out

Karkat looks at you like you're insane, which you probably are but still! 

"Karkat, I think it's about time we start heading out. Come on!" You tell him for the hundreth time today. Karkat just shakes his head and turns around. 

"Fuck, Kar, we can't just sit around! You and I both are looking for some people and I don't think they're just gonna be staying in one place so it's best if we keep going. We just gotta keep going north, righ?"

"I'm still resting." He says.

"We've been here for three days now!" This time you turn around, heading straight to the door and grab your bag that's laying next to it. "I'm going, Karkat. I still got to keep going. Catch up when your done _resting_." You tell him, then slam the door shut as you leave.

What the fuck is up with him? Does he not know how important it is for you two to keep going?!  

 

\--

 

No, no, no, no, no! Fuck! What do you do? Cronus just left! Just like everyone else that you knew! You. Why. Fuck! You have to get him back. 

"Cronus wait!" You screa then open the door. You start running twords him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sorry. Well I kinda am. I'm just a lazy fuck.


End file.
